I’ve never really read much of The Flash except for in The Justice League of America and, more recently, in the Green Lantern Blackest Night/Brightest Day run. I get it; he’s the fastest man alive (most of the time), and I am sure I have missed a couple of good series runs from what other people have told me. So, I opened DC Comics New 52 reboot, The Flash #1 with a fairly fresh pair of eyes and the optimism of a Chicago Cubs fan.
Having said this, I have to say liking this first issue of The Flash is a little hard. Seriously, The Flash is suppose the be the fastest man alive, so not throwing him into an impossible situation requiring a split-second decision or a villainous speedster hell-bent on whatever villainous speedsters are into nowadays (world domination, death and destruction, or getting front row tickets to the latest Miley Cyrus concert tour), this issue kind of left me a little deflated, sort of like the average north side baseball fan about midway through the baseball season. Then again, I know not every Flash villain has been faster than greased-lighting, but at least don’t make me read so much unnecessary banter to get to where this issue ends that I nearly close the book halfway there and move back on over to one of Marvel’s newer titles. Sometimes less is more, and when scripting the story for the fastest man alive, his actions could well be explained with visual representations of his race against time from Point A to Point B rather than a bunch of characters yapping away from one panel into the next.
Don’t get me wrong; the storyline itself is not bad, just more than the average reader really needs (or probably wants). And the art, provided by Manapul also, is intricately constructed and flows from page after page almost effortlessly; so much so that it is a shame that Manapul throws in as much dialogue as he does.
It may not be fair to judge this issue of The Flash too harshly either, as it is Maapul’s first “at-bat” at writing. There is a chance he will slow his conversational pace down as he becomes more comfortable penning both sides of the title. And, maybe someone will point out to him that he is covering too much of his attractive artwork with needless dialogue balloons. So, I guess I’ll see how everything transitions into the next issue before passing final judgment, sort of like how many Cubs Fan hang on through the off season with spring training just in the horizon.
Rating: 3/5
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